Woodstock police officer won’t face charges for injuries suffered during man’s arrest

A Woodstock police officer who tackled a man who had reportedly tried to assault a security guard was cleared of wrongdoing this week by the province’s police watchdog.

In a Tuesday release, Joseph Martino, the director of the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said he “found no reasonable grounds to believe” the Woodstock officer had committed a criminal offense in the March 2023 incident that left the 36-year- old complainant with a broken left orbital bone.

Police had initially been called to the Peel Street area during the late morning of March 14 after reports of a male suspect allegedly trying to assault a security guard.

The man, the SIU report stated, had reportedly thrown a stick at the security guard after being told to leave the exterior grounds of the Woodstock Museum.

The responding officers encountered the man in the nearby parking lot of Fanshawe College’s Metcalf Center in downtown Woodstock. The officers recognized the man from previous encounters, the SIU report noted, and knew he struggled with mental-health issues.

When the initial two officers tried to speak to the man, he “reacted angrily,” the SIU report noted.

When the officers exited their cruiser and drew their stun guns, the man allegedly demanded that police “use their real firearms instead,” the report added.

As additional officers arrived, the already agitated man “was animated as his arms moved and he paced back and forth,” the report stated. The man reportedly became more aggressive and erratic. After he allegedly ignored police commands, the man’s “erratic behavior” escalated to a point where he again yelled at police to shoot him.

Three officers fired their stun guns at the man as he approached them, but these energy weapons missed or had little effect. The officer who was subject of the investigation then tackled the man from behind, bringing him quickly to the ground.

The man was handcuffed without further incident and taken to hospital by paramedics, where he was diagnosed with the broken orbital bone around his eye.

The subject officer declined to give an interview to SIU investigators, as is his legal right, but provided a copy of his notes. As part of the investigation, SIU officials gathered the arrest report, event chronology, communications recordings, witness officer notes and the Woodstock’s departments use-of-force and emotional disturbed persons policies, among other material.

In addition to interviews with the other responding officers and a civilian witness, investigators also collected video footage from Fanshawe College and the Oxford Community Health Centre, neither of which showed the actual arrest.

“Though the (subject officer) did not interview with the SIU, as was his legal right, his notes and the circumstances that prevailed at the time make clear that he intervened to deter a reasonably apprehended assault against (another officer) at the hands of the complainant,” Martino wrote in his report. “The complainant was immediately hostile at the presence of the police and challenged them to shoot him with real bullets instead of their (stun guns). When he advanced towards (the first officer), the complainant did so with purpose giving the appearance of wanting to provoke a physical confrontation with the officer.

“I am … ​​satisfied that the force used by the (subject officer), namely, a takedown, was legally justified.”

The SIU investigates all serious injuries, deaths, police-involved shootings and allegations of sexual assault involving officers.